#77 August ’15

Beyond Insecurity

Last month I wrote about ‘insecurity’ and how it may well be the root cause for all issues we, and the world, face today. To look beyond insecurity, and no doubt there is something beyond insecurity, we must first move beyond the limitations that this ‘insecurity’ has imposed upon us.

Is it really necessary though, that we keep looking for any fundamental cause for the state we find ourselves in now? Even assuming we could find the fundamental issue, what good would it do us while we are still caught in the old patterns, the conditioning that arose out of insecurity. None at all, because the conditioning itself demands that we either come to terms with it or try to change our lives, again, from within the conditioning that created the perceived need for change in the first place.

Perhaps there is a shortcut to moving beyond our conditioning. If we were to ask who is it who feels insecure? Who is it who identifies with insecurity? Who is it that continues to suffer the effects of insecurity? We might, just might, be able to step out of the old model. For it is only the continued identification with this old model that sustains it. We should be aware by now that where we put our energy, our attention, creates the world we live in. Yet while we insist on continuing to energise conflict we continue to live in a conflicted world.

To begin understanding this elusive ‘who’ we need to practice non judgement. All the time we judge a feeling, a thought, others, a situation or ourselves we are perpetuating the illusory state based upon insecurity. While we judge, and energise, we remain caught trying to find a way out, a release, yet it should be obvious by now that there is no way out of this illusion, at least not from within the mind-set that created it.

Common feedback to this suggestion is ‘too hard’ ‘I cannot do that’. Listen to yourself? Who is finding this idea challenging? The ‘who’ who is lost in the drama of course. Yet it is not necessary that we release all judgement in one moment, although this happens more often than we credit ourselves. The difficulty is seeing a mountain, an obstacle, so great that we are discouraged before we even begin the journey.

Even this self defeatist attitude is a product of insecurity. Accept the mountain, accept the idea that this is difficult, accept the thought you cannot do this, accept the thought that this is too hard. As you accept each thought, each feeling that arises, without judging those thoughts or feelings, what are you left with? More thoughts and feelings, naturally. Thoughts and feelings continue to arise whilst the consciousness remains polarised. Judgement guarantees ongoing polarisation. So whilst the consciousness from which all thoughts and feelings arise is conflicted, in a judgmental condition, conflict will continue to arise giving cause for action, further judgment. And so it goes.

By noticing a defeatist attitude and naming it but then moving on, releasing any attachment or judgement we return to a more balanced, harmonious state. With practice this becomes easier to notice and let go.

Acceptance then is the key, not returning to a murky past to try to discover why you have a murky past, simple acceptance. On a moment by moment basis. Not difficult at all. Each moment that you are conscious of thoughts and feelings is a moment of choice, to move beyond the old conditioning, or to energise the past. A past that has given you many experiences but does not allow the creation of a new reality.

As you practice non judgment, as you allow, as you accept it becomes increasingly obvious that the ‘who’ you were looking for doesn’t exist. The ‘who’ is a construct of the searching mind. After all, someone has to be searching! Don’t they! But with continued acceptance the need to search fades into irrelevance. When there is nothing to look for and no ‘searcher’ there is no ‘who’, there is no one holding onto a past built on insecurity. There is no one, nor any thing to clear, it is what it is.